Yes, you can craft with jewels jsut like you had the real skill.

Constance is my primary crafter and one of my favorite characters.. she has..

120 smithing
105 mining (gloves that she wears for RP purposes)
120 tailoring (will eventually. 114.? right now)
100 arms lore (again eventually 77+)
100 tinkering
80 magery

Her sister Charlotte has/will have:
100 carpentry
100 lumberjacking
100 bowfletching
100 tinkering
60 music
80 magery

And then there is Amy....
100 alchemy
100 poison
100 inscription
100 magery
100 meditation
100 cooking (although most of that is done by "A Serving Wench")
I'll probably add spellweaving here

Amy can craft glassware, Charlotte can make masonry items and Constance can dig sand and rocks.

These are my favorites (modified per Baldguy's information):

CRAFTER:
(human male)
100 Armslore
120 Blacksmithy
100 Bowcraft/Fletching
100 Carpenty
60 Musicianship
120 Tailoring
100 Tinkering

With this template I can craft any blacksmithy, bowcrafting, carpentry, tailoring, and tinkering item with the exception of magic house add ons (I put that on another character), and also receive the bonuses for arms and armor.

TREASURE HUNTER:
(human female)
100 Alchemy
100 Cartography
80 Hiding
100 Lockpicking
100 Mining
100 Poisoning
120 Stealing


With this template I can craft any alchemy and cartography item, steal and acquire any mining item. Note: I have not tested this template yet and am aware there is no way to heal or fight off attackers, though I know of ways to solve this (bring friends).

WOODSPERSON:
(human male)
120 Animal Lore
120 Animal Taming
40 Camping
100 Cooking
100 Fishing
100 Lumberjacking
120 Veterinary

With this template I can craft any cooking item, and acquire any fishing and lumberjacking item. It also can tame any tameable creature and heal them as well. I can also fight off attackers that might appear when I am fishing or lumberjacking.

DARK SCHOLAR:
(elven female)
120 Evaluate Intelligence
100 Inscription
120 Magery
120 Meditation
120 Necromancy
120 Spellweaving

And just because, here are my two other templates, though they do not craft anything.

SAMURAI:
(human male)
120 Anatomy
120 Bushido
120 Healing
120 Parrying
100 Swordsmanship
120 Tactics


With this template I have a good defensive and offensive combatant. I have yet to test this thoroughly in player versus player gameplay, though I think it will do well enough when I learn to use it in that arena.

PALADIN:
(human male)
120 Anatomy
120 Chivalry
120 Healing
120 Mace Fighting
100 Parrying
120 Tactics

I do not really know how this template will work (or if I will keep it this way), but I am training the character for future use in player versus player gameplay. I have never used Chivalry and have not fought other player characters since I have returned other than for training.

As you can see I do not use magic on most of my characters. I do this for some reasons. I believe that having magic in a game lessens the quality of other skills and also the quality of rewarding gameplay, but that is in a different topic. I am a roleplayer and it lessens the quality and feel of a good roleplay community (in my opinion it takes away from in depth character diversity and dynamics).

Yes, the same as what I'm doing, Also got Arms Lore due to AL changes and Magery to 70. (710 Skill Cap)

What I might do, is since I am going to have to have a newb...er...char with LJ is stone off the Mining to the same toon as the one with LJ and take on Masonry. Yeah, actually, infact thats exactly what I'll do. Cheers!

I notice some do and some don't, but I always keep mining on my smith for ingot return bonus.

With the new Smelt All bag, you can get all 3 of your ingots back from a dagger if you are a gm miner.

I never thought of swapping skills out DUH! I have a 120 smith 120 tailor 100 tink 100 miner 100 carp. . cooking is on another char. . and had LJ on a different char but think becasue the carp is on my main crafter I will do as you have a swap out my mining with LJ I have enough Magery to get around and to protect meself if need be. .How much music do you have?

Why do you guys have 60 music? You only need 45 to craft exceptional instruments... Do you know something, I don't?!
I have 15 on my crafter and put on jewelry to get to 45. If I were elf, I could lower it 5 and add the song woven mantle, but I prefer being human.

*edit* I just found out about the singing axe that gives another +5 music - that means with an elf you can produce exceptional instruments without any musicianship at all */edit*

Well what sucks about this and the new changes is with Lumberjacking.....you know have to have Carpentry to be able to cut boards of all colors which is totally messing with my template since we had to add arms lore to get the damage increase. Yea you can throw your colored logs into your bug or packie, but makes you have to make more trips back and forth because of the weight issue....
Right now I'm at this........

120 Blacksmith
120 Tailoring
95 Mining 100 with gloves
100 Tinkering
100 Carpentry
100 Arms Lore
45 Music
35 Magery (75 with 14 ring 15 bracelet 11 spellbook)

I can make everything in these skills with this template....

I may stone my mining though and put on my treasure hunter as Mining is the only skill here that doesnt require another skill needed....in doing so I could then bring my 100 lumberjacking over from my other character and compensate for the 5 points I will need that mining wasnt taking up...... with music+magery combo ring or bracelet...

100 Bowcraft/fletching I have on my other crafter who also has
100 Alchy
100 Poisoning
100 Cooking....

which I could always switch mining over from T-hunter to my Alchy for easier glassblowing in the field as I do not treasure hunt all that often.........